Foot and mouth disease outbreaks trigger mass culling of livestock to control spread. The welfare of millions of animals during culling operations is a major concern requiring proper protocols.
Mass disease culling operations create conditions where welfare can break down rapidly under operational pressure, logistics stress, and the sheer scale of killing required. Many animals in the 2001 UK outbreak were healthy when killed. Stunning failures and improper killing methods in field conditions are well documented. Vaccination-based disease control reduces culling necessity and represents a major welfare improvement over pre-emptive mass slaughter.